Students

Every child deserves access to a safe, high-quality education, and Big Shoulders serves students from a vast range of ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds.

✶ 80% of our students are minorities

✶ 30% of our students are not Catholic

✶ 66% of our elementary students live in low-income households

Students at Big Shoulders Fund schools excel with compelling academic results. Big Shoulders Fund elementary students receive a strong academic and social foundation in elementary and high school. High schools have a 96 percent graduation rate and effectively prepare students for college and career. Graduates enroll in college at rates above their local and national peers, as verified by the National Student Clearinghouse. Since Big Shoulders began tracking in 2009, 85 percent of all graduating scholars have enrolled in college during the year following high school graduation. Even more significant, a recent survey of a sample of alumni of Big Shoulders Fund schools showed African-American alumni graduated from college at a rate more than twice the national average and Hispanic alumni graduated at a rate more than three times the national average.